In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun addresses this issue and more at City Hall. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: we just heard from President Trump about a week ago, actually, with an address to the nation on the war in Iran, just any and I know a month ago, you were a little uneven about where the direction was going. Do you feel the same, or do you feel any better?
Sakbun: I'm still a little bit concerned when it comes to the direction of the war, specifically to the president's address. The message itself little bit concerning. When it comes to the war in Iran that he is now calling a war multiple times, multiple interviews, we look at our strategy. Air campaigns historically have not worked. Vietnam is a great example of this.
So we really need to look at what is our off ramp now to stop state sponsored terrorism, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, really stabilize the global oil market, because we're seeing the second and third order effects right here in the state of Indiana, gas prices are rising. A number of small businesses and large businesses, frankly, are getting hit with fuel surcharges on invoices.
From an international perspective, when you start targeting civilian infrastructure, so I'm talking about power plants, bridges, you start really just creating more enemies. The people of Iran are going to be hit with famine, no power. That is not how you win a campaign and do regime change. If anything, they are going to harden in their thoughts about the United States of America and continue to strike us.
The Russians are now sharing intelligence with the Iranians. There's rumors of China supplying them with weapons. So this is really turning into one of these proxy war situations.
Hren: Any more dust settled on this year's legislative session, in terms of adjusting ways to fund or pay for city services?
Sakbun: If we really want to make housing attainable, we've already stripped so much red tape here locally, it's easier than ever to build in the city of Terre Haute.
What we are doing is gathering some data so we can go to the statehouse next session and say, hey, if you care about housing, if you care about working with builders, you need to have a conversation with them about the cost of infrastructure and infrastructure development. It's one of the largest costs to builders when it comes to new construction.
The statehouse, they have spoken. We need to grow very quickly, which is difficult. We're going to have to have a tough conversation around income taxes. This property tax fiasco that we've gotten ourselves in, I think, really doesn't serve a ton of people well, because, frankly, people want more from government, and we can only do so much more with less dollars.
Hren: Bloomington is going through updates in its policy on its Flock system, which is a system that captures license plates by photo for use by police. Some residents are worried that information could get in the wrong hands. Is that something used here, and if that were to come up, is that something that the city is looking at?
Sakbun: We do work with the Flock system, that data is very controlled here at the local level. The police department manages it, has access to it. That being said, I understand concerns with the company itself.
Anytime you have a company that can really get a lot of data on Hoosiers. Frankly, people are right to be concerned. And I think this is probably a better state and federal conversation around state and federal policies to ensure that the cyber security around these systems is up to speed and at the highest level possible.
We cautiously use the system. It has led to very, very good results. We have found criminals through this system. We have found suspects through using Flock cameras. We recently had a very nasty accident in southern Vigo County. We're able to solve that case in 90 minutes because of Flock cameras, they were not able to leave the area, leave the county.
Hren: Any update more discussions this past month with Governor Braun or INDOT on I-70?
Read more: Tolling proposal gains opponents as Braun says only ‘if it makes sense’
Sakbun: They're still waiting on the federal tolling waiver. We did have a very good discussion where they said, hey, look, we understand your concerns, and they are going to look into some things like a reduced rate for Hoosiers. They're going to look at different technology systems that they could utilize to actually reduce how much a Hoosier taxpayer pays.
I continue to say, make the trucks pay more than the residential, more than passenger drivers with families, again, I think there's other ways to get into third lane on I-70, I know we need a third lane. And that was another conversation that we'll continue to have with the state about, what are some other financing situations that we can do? Can we look at other state opportunities financially or federal opportunities financially?
Hren: Do you have any announcements or anything that we should know before I go?
Sakbun: We're about to finish our fourth park project of the year. How amazing is that? Spencer ballpark, brand new playground equipment, Deming Park pool under construction. Deming Parks, Oakley Playground contract is now signed. So this fall, after the park season, we'll close it down, we'll begin repairs, and pretty soon, hopefully this time next year, residents will have a new Deming Park pool and a new Oakley Playground on top of all the parks improvements we are doing.
And here's why. I see a lot of folks say, man, kids don't play outside like they used to. Well, for decades, we did not invest enough in our park system, our recreation system and our trail system. No wonder they're staying inside watching Peppa Pig. Let's give them great playground equipment to get them moving so they can have fun. Let's get them street lights at work, sidewalks that connect. So we are really focused on making this an opportunity to reshape how young families feel about our community when it comes to the outdoors.
